Think leader, think heterosexual male? The perceived leadership effectiveness of gay male leaders

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/cjas.1434
• Date: 01 June 2017
• Author: John W. Morton
• Published date: 01 June 2017

Think leader, think heterosexual male? The

perceived leadership effectiveness of gay male

leaders

John W. Morton*

University of California, Irvine

Abstract

Applying a framework of leadership categorization theory, I

examined the leadership perceptions of heterosexual and

gay male leaders. A signif‌icant interaction was found be-

tween participants’homonegativity and the sexual orienta-

tion of the target leader (heterosexual male or gay male)

for the variable of leadership effectiveness. For participants

who were less homonegative, there were no signif‌icant dif-

ferences between evaluations of heterosexual and gay male

leaders. However, individuals who were more homonegative

evaluated the gay male leader more negatively than they did

the heterosexual male leader. Implications of these f‌indings

for leaders with a mino rity sexual orientation and their or-

ganizations are discussed. Copyright © 2017 ASAC. Pub-

lished by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Keywords: leadership, diversity, LGBT, sexual orientation,

leadership categorization theory

Résumé

Dans le présent article, j’utilise le cadre théorique de la

catégorisation des leaderships pour examiner les percep-

tions que les participants ont vis-à-vis du leadership des

hétérosexuels et des gays. L’étude montre qu’en ce qui

concerne la variable eff‌icacité du leadership, il y a une in-

teraction forte entre l’homonégativité des participants et

l’orientation sexuelle des leaders (hétérosexuels ou gays).

C’est ainsi que chez les participants moins homonégatifs,

les évaluations des leaders hétérosexuels et des leaders gays

ne présentent pas de différences notables. Mais chez les par-

ticipants plus homonégatifs, les leaders gays sont évalués

plus négativement que leurs vis-à-vis hétérosexuels. Dans

la conclusion, je présente les implications des résultats pour

les leaders d’orientation sexuelle minoritaire et pour les

entreprises. Copyright © 2017 ASAC. Published by John

Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Mots-clés : leadership, diversité, LGBT, orientation

sexuelle, théorie de la catégorisation des leaderships

Members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender

(LGBT) community are experiencing an increase in visibil-

ity and legal protections. Given these monumental changes,

human resource (HR) departments and organizational man-

agers need to become aware of the experiences of their

LGBT employees, as well as the discrimination these em-

ployees continue to face. One type of discrimination against

individuals with a minority sexual orientation could occur

during the hiring or promotion processes. Such employment

discrimination against LGBT employees is illegal in 21 US

states and the District of Columbia (ACLU, 2015), and is

prohibited in Canada (Minister of Justice, 2014). Many com-

panies also have nondiscrimination policies that include

sexual orientation (Human Rights Campaign, 2015), so this

is a critical concern for HR professionals. As more openly

gay and lesbian individuals are promoted to positions of

leadership, it will become increasingly important to deter-

mine how the leadership effectiveness of LGBT leaders is

perceived, as such perceptions are an important part of pro-

motion decisions for managers. Yet, systematic scholarly

research on the perceptions of the leadership effectiveness

of gay and lesbian leaders in comparison to their heterosex-

ual counterparts is virtually nonexistent.

Sexual orientation has been greatly understudied in the

workplace and scholars are advocating for more organiza-

tional research about LGBT people at work (Anteby &

Anderson, 2014). Previous research about sexual minorities

has shown discrimination against gays and lesbians in the

hiring process (Barron & Hebl, 2013; Tilcsik, 2011) as well

as harassment by coworkers once hired (D’Augelli &

Grossman, 2001). However, little is known about how

LGBT leaders are evaluated in comparison to their

*Please address correspondence to: John W. Morton, University of Califor-

nia, Irvine, The Paul Merage School of Business, Organization and Manage-

ment, SB1 3310, Irvine, CA, USA 92697. Email: jwmorton@uci.edu

Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences

Revue canadienne des sciences de l’administration

34: 159–169 (2017)

Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com) DOI: 10.1002/CJAS.1434

Can J Adm Sci

34(2), 159–169 (2017)Copyright © 2017 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. 159